JCAA to Implement Caribbean’s First Automatic Message Handling System
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| Representatives of Ubitech reviewing JCAA’s AFTN Equipment. |
UPDATE
In September 2007 representatives from Ubitech Systems Inc. began the installation of the new Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network/Automatic Message Handling System (AFTN/AMHS) equipment in the Kingston Air Traffic Control Centre (KATCC) as well as some other stations across Jamaica.
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The system is Internet Protocol (IP) based and will be fully integrated with the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) billing system. Messages will be sent as e-mails to individual clients. The JCAA has now become a part of the world-wide Local Area Network (LAN).It will also facilitate pilot briefings on weather conditions, changes to aerodrome equipment and will also include an automated Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) system. While the new system is now online it is not yet operational as it is still being tested.Training is also being provided with relevant agencies such the national airline,Air Jamaica, the Meteorological Office and the JCAA's AIS Unit.In terms of technical support, five persons from the Aeronautical Telecommunications Co and the JCAA were sent overseas for training to effect any future repairs that will be needed on the system as well as to do a site acceptance test.
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The old AFTN switch used by the JCAA involved the routing of all messages to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sorting Center in Atlanta (called NADIN )before being forwarded to the various addresses. The difficulty with this system was that if NADIN was not functioning international messages including Flight Plans and Notams, etc. could not be sent.
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Original Article
By year end the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) will be transferring its Air Traffic Services’ messaging operations from the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network (AFTN) to a modern Automatic Message Handling System (AMHS). This move will be in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Air Traffic Management implementation strategy and will be the first such system to be installed in the Caribbean. It will include an Aeronautical Information Service automation system, a Pilot briefing inter face and a Billing Application system.
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The existing AFTN is a worldwide system of aeronautical fixed circuits. The circuit is provided, as part of the aeronautical fixed service, for the exchange of messages and/or digital data between aeronautical stations having the same or compatible communications characteristics.
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The primary purpose of the AFTN is to exchange vital information for aircraft operations such as distress messages, urgency messages, flight safety messages, meteorological messages, flight regularity messages and aeronautical administrative messages. Such messages are known as Notices to Airmen (NOTAMS). Another important function of the AFTN system is the provision of the relevant information on aircraft movement within the Jamaican airspace to facilitate the preparation of billing invoices.
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The advent of the new technology, AMHS (Automatic Message Handling System) will provide a comprehensive worldwide network to transmit the data mentioned above i.e. NOTAMS and Flight Plans, etc. The AMHS utilizes similar construction as that of the Internet and will be able to transmit e-mail type messages. Eventually AMHS will be able to have graphics embedded enabling weather-related data to be transmitted in text form as well as graphically.
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The billing portion of the newly acquired system will reduce the necessity to print (and dispatch by courier or post) hundreds of billing invoices . Instead invoices will be transmitted by e-mail to the JCAA’s clients all over the world. In addition the new system will allow the Accounts Department to distribute batch invoices to collection agencies who act on behalf of major airlines. This billing system will also be more accurate as confirmation of flights within the Jamaican airspace will be done both by the Air Traffic Control radar data as well as the flight plans distributed over the AMHS system.
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The new AMHS system will be installed by leading Aeronautical Data Systems manufacturer Ubitech at a cost of US$800,000. Once commissioned the JCAA will have one of the most advanced integrated Air Traffic Services/Aeronautical Information Services systems in the world.
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